Knowing that gift vouchers are an invaluable addition to the bottom line, it is worthwhile to simplifying their path-to-purchase and redemption process.
In this blog we highlight some best practices for user experience and user interactions when it comes to inspiring guests to buy gift vouchers and redeeming it. A seamless interaction pathway can be hugely beneficial for the hotel through increased revenue and improved loyalty. Equally it can be a great guest experience when done right.
Best Practices to Enhance Gift Voucher Sales for Hotels
1. A separate pathway to buy gift vouchers
The path to buying gift vouchers is widely varied from a standard guest journey to your website to book a room. This is why it should sit as its own distinct section on your website.
Most gift voucher paths-to-purchase will come down to several crucial steps that need to be reflected in your UI design, including finding the voucher section, selecting the voucher you want and checking out with secure payment.
STAAH Vouchers’ user-friendly platform for hoteliers is based on best practice UX principles to encourage uptake. It is completely customisable to integrate with your brand and offers the ability to create multiple vouchers, set prices and manage sales and redemption from one place.
2. Create a dedicated landing page for gift voucher options
Tailor your gift voucher landing page to clearly showcase what’s on offer. STAAH Vouchers offers multiple voucher types, such as gift certificates, room deals, packages, and special offers, to cater to different guest needs.
3. Localised content
In an age of personalisation, being relevant to your audience can improve conversions. Language localisation is highly relevant and important for your key target audience.
4. Cross-channel gift voucher promotion, including offline
Pushing out vouchers for sale, particularly around special events and gifting season is a great way to get revenue in. Social media is a great platform to promote gift vouchers.
Offline promotions of gift vouchers are a great way to turn onsite guests into longer-term, loyal customers. To ensure you don’t oversell vouchers over the country, STAAH Vouchers also allows limits to be set for same on counters. The engine also allows creation of complimentary vouchers, another great way to build customer loyalty and delight returning guests, fostering a strong and long-lasting relationship.
5. Checkout and payments
When users have selected their vouchers and added to the cart, make it easy to move on to the checkout step. Use secure payment gateways and ensure this is highlighted in the UX to win user trust and reduce abandonment.
6. Making redemption seamless
Make redemption as easy as possible for customers to encourage them to buy in the future. Redemptions are automatically reflected in the dashboard for hotels to view and manage. Allow flexibility for users through partial redemptions. Supporting redemption through a QR code also makes things easier for the guest and property. All these features are supported by STAAH Vouchers.
It is also recommended to integrate your gift voucher engine to the hotel’s loyalty programme or property management system (PMS) to allow personalisation for an improved customer experience and effective marketing by the hotel.
Gift vouchers are an income source that can be easily overlooked and even ignored by hotels. However, they can become a good source of ancillary revenue. Platforms such as the STAAH Vouchers make it easy for hotels of any size to make gift vouchers a part of their strategy. Combined with the UX and UI best practices listed in this blog, hotels can look forward to improved uptake of gift vouchers, helping boost revenue.
